Life never stops at Chapter One

I've decided to start a blog and to be honest I was slightly reluctant at first because of my busy schedule and the schedule at Chapter One. However, I was (easily) persuaded by our lovely customers who kept asking me to start one and thought it would be a great way to keep you up to date with my news, events and of course share cooking tips!

I've headed up Chapter One for 14 years now and was initially attracted to Kent because of the outstanding produce it has to offer. The county is home to some of the finest food in the UK. There is so much choice, from the great apple orchards in Shoreham to local fishing ports of Kent to the Kentish Cobnut that you can pick yourself in the early autumn months.

As I'm sure you all know that at Chapter One we never have a dish on the menu that isn't seasonal. Our menu is dictated by what's in season and what I get from our suppliers that morning. I'm exactly that same when cooking at home for my wife and our kids.

Right now, I've been busy bottling marmalade and last Sunday made a new batch. I always make my own preserves as nothing shop bought compares to making it fresh. February is the last month for the Seville orange season. I also shared my marmalade recipe in my monthly column in Kent Life. This will make about 2.5kg and should last for months. Once opened you must keep it in a refrigerator. Also, remember to sterilise your jars before filling them. Enjoy.

We are busy in the Chapter One kitchen getting ready for a busy Valentine's weekend and this year we are running our Valentine's menu on the Saturday and the Sunday evening so we are not feeling very romantic in the kitchen! All I hear around the building is talk of the construction of the extra tables as it's all tables of two so we have to reconfigure the dining room and enough vases and the ordering of the roses, all these things that go on behind the scenes. We have just finished writing the Mother's day menu and the menus for the upcoming Gourmet nights which I write with Dean Ferguson my head chef and they will be published online soon.

We are also busy completely restyling the private dining room, what was a mini make over has now turned into a complete facelift and the builders are working night and day to transform the room into a stunning space - we are going to be posting some more pics as the work progresses and its all set to be finished in a couple of weeks so look out for the big reveal. The first event held in the room will be one of my Chefs Masterclasses....